Treasure Hunter Finds Buried iPhone on Balneário Camboriú Beach and Returns It

Overview

• Mateus Natan da Silva located the phone with a metal detector in shallow water on Praia Central on September 19.
• He rinsed away salt and sand, left the device in rice for two days, charged it, and confirmed it worked despite no Lost Mode or emergency contact.
• By placing the SIM in another phone, he used the number as a Pix key to identify the owner and located her within hours via social media.
• The iPhone 13 was mailed back through Correios to Isadora Alchieri in Capanema, Paraná.
• Da Silva, followed by more than half a million people, catalogs his finds and reports over R$22,000 toward a stated goal of R$1 million in located items.